1. I wonder if the Yanks are doing the right thing by trying to force feed a long reliever onto the staff, in this case either Darrell Rasner or Kei Igawa. I understand the philosophy. They have strict inning limits on young starters and want to be able to remove an Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes quickly in the midst of a blowout or to use a spot starter on occasion to spread out the starts of Kennedy and Hughes. And they will not use Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera in blowouts. So you want to have an arm around you can abuse.

Except here are two things to remember: 1) the Yanks have a terrific offense. There will be days that if a long reliever could keep an early deficit to 5-1 or 6-1 that the Yanks will come back, certainly with more frequency than most clubs. So there is value for the Yanks in having middle and long men who have a greater chance to halt the opposing offenses. That leads to 2) which is that this spring Ross Ohlendorf, Brian Bruney and Scott Patterson have outpitched Rasner and Igawa. Yet unless Andy Pettitte opens on the DL then only one will make the team. I would rather have two of those guys around to use for two innings to survive a blowout than either Rasner or Igawa. If you have to all of those relievers have options and if the bullpen is heavily used, any of those guys could be sent down and a Rasner or Igawa, or a Edwar Ramirez or Jose Veras could be summoned.

I have one other suspicion why the Yanks are not doing this. I think they want to put Ohlendorf on the team and I think they want to limit him to one-inning appearances as much as possible. And here is why: They fully intend to move Chamberlain into the rotation sometime later in the year. And they are hoping someone rises up in a set-up role to prove they can replace Chamberlain in the eighth inning. And I believe the Yanks think the reliever with the best stuff to do that is Ohlendorf. So they donât exactly want to be using him in blowouts for multiple innings either.

2. Why would the Reds have felt compelled to sign Mike Stanton after the 2006 seasons when he had just finished a spell of not particularly good pitching for four different teams in three years? Why would they feel compelled to give him a two-year contract for $5.5 million? Could they really not have seen this moment coming when they would have to let Stanton go and pay him a ton of money not to play? That came Friday, with Stanton still owed $3.5 million. Maybe someone is desperate enough to pretend that Stanton is still an effective lefty reliever to sign the 40-year-old. But there is just as good a chance that this is the end. If it is, his legacy will include being both an important part of three Yankee champions. But also being part of the Mitchell Report.

3. There are a lot of folks with the Dodgers wondering why Esteban Loaiza, throwing 85 mph, is in the rotation and Clayton Kershaw, the 20-year-old phenom who was their most impressive arm in camp, is not? The Dodgers are obviously are hoping that there is someone as dumb as them. Los Angeles obtained Loaiza midway through last season, now the Dodgers want to showcase him and see if someone will take the $6.875 million left on his contract. Not a good chance.